#THINMAN Part 1

Lebanon, Kansas

Sam and Dean sat in the library doing some research while Grace played on her activity mat. Angela walked into the room with a duffle bag slung over her shoulder.

Grace looked up and clapped her hands. "Mama!"

Angela walked over and leaned down to kiss the top of Grace's head. She turned her attention to Sam and Dean.

"Alright," she started. "I'll be back."

"Wait." Dean's brows furrowed. "Where you headed, kid?"

"Washington." Angela shrugged. "I caught a case."

"You want us to come with?" Sam raised his brows.

Angela tilted her head slightly. "Do you want to come, Sam?"

"On a hunt? Why wouldn't I?" Sam retorted.

"I don't know, Sam. 'Cause lately with you, up is down and down is sideways, you know?" Angela shrugged. "I don't know what you want."

"Why don't you guys go to Washington, a-and I'll stay back here with Gracie?" Dean intervened.

"Okay. Fine." Angela nodded as she pulled a paper from her bag and slid it over to Sam. "Photo leaked from the crime scene. A girl was murdered in her room, doors were locked, the windows were locked."

Sam looked at the selfie the girl took and noticed the figure in the background. "Who's the wallflower?"

"Exactly," Angela replied. "Best guess—ghost caught on film. So, you're coming?"

Sam started gathering his things. "Does it look like I'm staying?"

~/~\~

Springdale, Washington

In the girl's house, Sam and Angela stood talking to her mother. There was a large blood stain on the carpet. Mrs. Miles just stared at the stain as she spoke.

"I scrubbed for hours." She murmured. "I'll have to rip up the carpet. My daughter, Casey… She picked out the color herself."

"We're… very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Miles." Sam replied sincerely. "You mentioned Casey had no known enemies. What about at home? Anything unusual you may have noticed? Uh… Electricity acting up or lights… flickering, TV on the fritz?"

"No, no fritzing." Mrs. Miles shook her head. "No cold spots, either."

Angela's brows furrowed in confusion. "Sorry. Out of curiosity, uh… Why do you mention cold spots?"

"I'm sorry." Mrs. Miles apologized. "That must sound strange, but… it's been three days since… And the police have found nothing. I'd h—I'd have to sell my house to afford a private investigator, so when the Supernaturalists called—

"I'm sorry, the… Um… Supernaturalists?" Angela asked with a frown.

"I know to the FBI it's not exactly orthodox. But these men had answers that no one else had, and I—I owe it to Casey… to listen." Mrs. Miles explained.

"No, they—they brought up cold spots in relation to…?" Sam trailed off.

"Signs of the paranormal, I suppose." Mrs. Miles replied. "They're coming by today to take a look."

"And did these Supernaturalists give you a name?" Angela questioned.

~/~\~

Sam and Angela walked up to a large white van that had 'Ghostfacers' written across in large letters.

"Dammit." Angela rolled her eyes in annoyance.

~/~\~

Sam and Angela walked into the diner, immediately spotting Ed and Harry. They slid into the booth with them, annoyed expressions on their faces.

"Ah, the Winchesters. Yay." Harry commented sarcastically.

"Says, nobody," Ed added.

"Ever," Harry muttered. "Where's the other one?"

"Alright, shut up and listen." Angela started. "This is how it's gonna go. You two clowns are gonna get into that mystery machine outside, and you're gonna leave town or I'm gonna put holes in your knees."

Ed and Harry rolled their eyes as the waiter walked up.

"Can I get you guys anything?" he chirped. "Something, uh…"

"Uh, we're ready for the bill." Angela forced a smile.

"Hey." Trey interrupted. "There's still crud on this plate. Now, hit the sinks and do it right."

"Sorry, Trey." The waiter mumbled as he left.

"Ahh, first of all, you guys don't scare us," Harry told Sam and Angela.

"Not at all," Ed added.

Harry lifted his shirt to reveal a gun in his waistband. "Say, 'hola' to my little pistola."

Angela raised her brows slightly. "Am I supposed to be impressed with that treasure trail or the lady gun you got hiding in your, uh, pants there?"

"Uh… Both?" Harry replied uncertainly. "Look, whether you like it or not, we are handling this situation."

"Yup." Ed agreed.

"Really?" Angela asked skeptically.

"Mm-hmm." Ed hummed.

"Right." Angela pursed her lips tightly. "Because I see a couple of fame whores who are pointing their camera at a mom who just lost her kid."

"Guys, we are investigators, and we have every right—

"No." Angela interrupted firmly. "No, you don't. You know why? Because you're just gonna get in our way."

"Or you're gonna get somebody else killed," Sam added.

"That's right." Angela agreed. "So, you can either walk out of here… or crawl. Up to you."

"Oh, my God." Harry rolled his eyes dramatically. "Will you guys relax? We know what we're doing."

"Yup." Ed nodded.

"Really? And what about the rest of the Bad News Bears, huh?" Angela tilted her head. "Where's the—where's the fat one? And—and the girl? There was a girl, right?"

Ed shifted uncomfortably. "They—we dropped them. They were—they were dead weight."

"Well, t-they're still alive," Harry added quickly.

"They're—no, they're totally alive," Ed confirmed.

"I see." Angela nodded. "So, it's just the, uh, the dumpy duo, then. Well, that's great. So, here's the deal. A ghost… Will land you two dead in five seconds flat."

"A ghost?" Harry chuckled mockingly. "Oh. They think it's a ghost. It's so not a ghost."

"No," Ed added.

"Okay." Sam frowned deeply. "We'll bite. What do you think it is?"

"Can I—can I do it this time?" Harry asked excitedly.

"You got it." Ed nodded.

"Okay." Harry turned his attention to the couple. "I've waited all my life for this. Amazon me, bitches."

Angela was beyond annoyed at this point. "I will shoot you… Bitches."

"Like we were saying," Sam cut in. "You were just going, right? Great."

"Good talk," Angela added before she and Sam got up to leave.

~/~\~

Back at the motel, Sam was reading off the laptop while Angela took off her blazer.

"Uh… Angela?" Sam asked, his brows raised.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Ed and Harry wrote a book," Sam replied.

Angela's brows furrowed. "What?"

"Yeah. Uh, 'The Skinny on Thinman,' by American's foremost Supernaturalists." Sam read aloud.

Angela looked even more confused. "What the hell's a Thinman?"

"I don't know. Uh…" Sam mumbled as he pulled up a photo. "Whoa. Check that out, though. That does kind of look like whatever was behind Casey Miles, right?"

Angela leaned over Sam's shoulder to get a good look. "Or Garth if somebody shaved his face off. Big whoop."

"Here we go." Sam continued. "Uh, 'Thinman—' an urban legend started on the world wide web—lurks in the background of his victims' lives until he's ready to kill them."

"Yeah, because everything started on the internet is true." Angela retorted sarcastically. "Like, uh, ok, the shark attacking a helicopter—they write a book on that one, too?"

"Look, real or not, thousands of people have posted to the site," Sam explained. "It's like Thinman is the new Bigfoot or something."

"Or Thinman is just a ghost with a brand name," Angela argued.

"You saying that 'cause you really think it's a ghost or because you don't like the Ghostfacers?" Sam questioned.

"Hey, don't forget—we hit EMF in Casey's room." Angela retorted.

"Right, but the house was next door to power lines, which can affect the read." Sam shrugged.

"A girl died in a locked room, Sam—spells 'ghost' right there." Angela folded her arms across her chest.

"Maybe it got in there before it was locked up." Sam shrugged. "Who knows, Angela? But how can people all over the world see the same ghost? Spirits don't exactly hop around."

"I know that." Angela huffed. "But right now, the veil is all kinds of screwed, okay? Ghosts could be popping up anywhere."

"Yeah, but, Angela, Thinman sightings date back a couple years," Sam replied. "The veil's only been a problem for, what, the last six months?"

Angela pulled a laptop out of her bag and sat at the other table. "Well, you know, people still see Elvis all over the damn place. Look, all I'm saying is those douche bags aren't experts on anything."

"What are you doing?" Sam sighed heavily.

"I'm checking the local deaths to see if there's any candidates for ghosts," Angela replied.

~/~\~

"Okay," Angela started. "Alright, over the past six months, there have been three unnatural deaths in Springdale, none of them connected to Casey Miles, and none of them violent."

"Okay, that's not exactly a recipe for a vengeful spirit," Sam replied. "There have been a bunch of unexplained deaths pinned on Thinman. Um, a vic dies, then, a couple weeks later, a photo pops up of the vic with Thinman photobombing."

"So, Thinman's stalking people?" Angela asked.

"According to the lore." Sam nodded.

"According to the idiots." Angela corrected. "How come none of these vics pinged our radar?"

"I'm pretty sure the mysterious deaths can be chalked up to non-supernatural causes," Sam replied. "That, and, honestly, most of these photos look pretty fake."

"Even Casey's?" Angela raised her brows.

"Except Casey's," Sam replied. "Casey's photo wasn't doctored. Whatever was behind her was really there."

"Okay, well, that doesn't make any sense," Angela muttered. "I mean, how could something be both real and fake at the same time?"

"Well, a girl is dead, and that's about as real as it gets." Sam sighed heavily.

"Alright, so the last thing she did was she took a photo on her phone," Angela noted. "How did that photo end up online?"

"No clue," Sam admitted. "It was originally posted to a Thinman fan forum, but the I.P. address was blocked."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait." Angela stopped Sam. "This thing has fans? Of course, it does. Okay, well, then somebody wanted this photo on the internet, and I'm guessing that the ghost didn't hop online to post it."

~/~\~

At the police station, Sam and Angela stood at the front counter as Deputy Norwood brought over a case file box.

"Is the, uh, sheriff around?" Angela asked curiously. "There's a couple questions we'd like to ask him."

"Uh, sorry to disappoint. Sheriff's on a hunting trip." Deputy Norwood replied. "But, uh, I appreciate you agents being here. I could use all the help I can get."

Sam picked up Casey's phone in an evidence bag. "Wait a second. Was this cracked when you found it?"

"Yeah, man. Maybe she dropped it?" Deputy Norwood suggested. "911 call went dead at 11:59."

"Wait, what time was the photo posted?" Angela asked.

"Around 2:00 a.m." Sam muttered.

"But the coroner has the death at midnight." Angela frowned. "How could she have posted the photo from her phone? That—that's impossible."

"Or… supernatural." Deputy Norwood cut in.

"What?" Angela questioned.

"Why would you say that?" Sam added quickly.

"A couple fellas came by, uh, asking questions about the girl's death, suggested they might be able to help." Deputy Norwood explained. "They, uh, gave me a book they wrote about, uh…"

"Thinman?" Angela finished.

"Yeah." Deputy Norwood nodded. "Just…"

Before he could finish, Angela turned around and walked away angrily.

"Not a fan?" Deputy Norwood pointed after Angela.

~/~\~

Sam and Angela walked into the diner, only to see the Ghostfacers taking film of Trey's body.

"Agents, thanks for coming." Deputy Norwood greeted.

"What are these two morons doing here?" Angela nodded toward the Ghostfacers.

"I figured it wouldn't hurt to go a little 'Medium,' you know?" Deputy Norwood chuckled. "Uh… two counties over, folks were combing the place for a poor little dead boy back in August. The cops let a psychic do her thing. Shish, bang, boom—found a body a day later."

"Uh-huh," Angela muttered. "Excuse me."

"Is there any, uh, security-cam footage?" Sam asked the deputy.

"Uh, yeah, just…"

Angela walked over to the Ghostfacers and slapped Harry's butt. "Hey!"

"Aah!" Ed and Harry yelped in surprise.

"I thought I told you to beat it." Angela glared.

"Oh, well, what are you gonna do." Harry shrugged. "You gonna out me, 'agent'?"

"Okay, look, playing paparazzi at a crime scene—who does that help but yourselves?" Angela practically hissed.

"The bloggers, Angela, the believers—everyone who needs just a little proof to know that Thinman is out there," Harry explained.

"Wait, so, you're saying there's a lot of people online that are pretty die-hard about this thing?" Angela quirked a brow.

"Oh, yeah." Harry nodded.

"Oh, yeah. Uh-huh." Ed smirked.

"You throw the right Tibetan symbol into the mix, you dumb asses ever think the Thinman comes to life as a Tulpa?" Angela questioned.

"Because thousands of people can agree that Thinman is any one thing? The lore changes blog to blog." Ed explained. "He's not a Tulpa."

"Okay, alright. Alright." Angela rolled her eyes. "Right here, right now, cut the crap. Do either of you actually know what Thinman is?"

"No. We just play Supernaturalists on TV." Ed deadpanned.

"We have no idea what we're doing… Of course, we do!" Harry exclaimed.

"Thinman, is part man, part tree," Ed added.

"Some people believe that he emerged from the nightmare of an autistic boy," Harry explained.

"Alright, so you have no idea." Angela scoffed.

"You guys are gonna want to see this." Deputy Norwood interrupted.

Angela, Ed, and Harry walked over to where Sam had been viewing security tapes with Deputy Norwood.

"Alright, check this out." Sam pressed replay.

"Whoa." Ed and Harry whispered.

"Alright, so, how did he jump from the parking lot to the diner?" Angela asked. "The doors were locked, right?"

"The footage shows Trey locked them 10 minutes before." Deputy Norwood confirmed.

"Locked, not locked, it doesn't matter. Everyone knows Thinman can teleport." Harry commented.

"I didn't even get a blip on my EMF," Ed added.

"So, maybe it's not a ghost," Angela admitted.

"You Feds believers now?" Deputy Norwood raised his brows.

"Okay, uh… We're gonna go. Uh, good work, deputy, agents. Let's go. Let's go, man." Ed rushed.

"Let's see it again." Angela motioned to the tapes.

~/~\~

Angela and Sam were sitting in their motel room eating dinner.

"Okay," Sam started. "Just grasping at straws here, but when I think 'teleport,' I think 'crossroads demon.'"

"Mm." Angela hummed. "Demons that likes to stab and watch YouTube. Why not?"

"Oh, by the way, speaking of which, the video of, uh, Trey getting knifed is already online," Sam noted. "It has, like, 2,000 views. It's like somebody wants people to see Thinman in action."

"It's 'cause people will watch, 'cause people are sick," Angela muttered.

"And when did 'viral' go from that baby chimp falling out of a tree to killer 'Candid Camera'?" Sam scoffed lightly.

Angela smiled softly. "You know what would have gone viral if I had taken a video? When you had lost that lucky rabbit foot."

Sam grinned at the memory. "I completely forgot about that."

"You totally klutzed out." Angela giggled. "And when you lost your shoe!"

Sam chuckled softly. "Yeah, not my finest moment."

"Yeah." Angela murmured fondly. "Hm, good times."

"Yeah, they were," Sam replied, suddenly sobering up.

A knock on the door suddenly interrupted their thoughts. Angela got up to answer it but before she could reach the door, Ed came barging in.

"Come on in," Angela muttered, exasperated.

"I got to tell you guys something important, and then the case is yours." Ed rushed.

~/~\~

Ed sat on one of the motel beds. "Alright, either you bleed Ghostfacers red or you don't. If Spruce wanted to start a startup and Maggie's heart was in the roller derby, who am I to stop them? But Harry—I-I couldn't let him give into his girl." He explained. "I mean, she—she called the Ghostfacers stupid. Stupid! Can you—can you believe that? You know, I-I don't care how much money her daddy's hedge fund has. I just couldn't watch Harry become a corporate stooge."

"Okay, this all sounds like sad times at Bitchmont High," Angela replied, clearly losing her patience. "What does this have to do with the case?"

Ed shifted uncomfortably. "Harry was gonna leave, so I needed to give him a reason to stay. I-I made up Thinman."

Sam and Angela just stared at Ed with shocked faces.

"So, you're saying that this crap is actually crap?" Angela raised her brows.

"One old photo of a butler, a lot of Photoshop later, and I posted on one of those horror forums under 'anonymous'. And it blew up." Ed explained guiltily. "Yeah. I only faked one case for us, and then we're packing up to go home when somebody posted a sighting of Thinman, so… we went after it, and that's how the Thinman became a crowdsourced legend. Look, we were at the front of it. It felt like something. It—it was so awesome to have a following, and Harry—he was just—he was so into it."

"Ed, you have to tell him," Sam replied firmly.

"You don't get it." Ed shook his head sadly. "We were the Thinman guys. Without the Thinman, we're just… guys—just—we're just puffs."

"What?" Angela's brows furrowed in confusion.

"If I tell Harry, he's gonna leave the Ghostfacers." Ed sighed heavily.

"Listen, if you don't tell him, he's gonna leave anyway," Sam replied. "Trust me here. Secrets ruin relationships."

Angela glanced at Sam and shifted on her feet uncomfortably.

"Okay, well, I'll just tell him when the time is right," Ed replied.

"Time's right now, hon," Angela said softly.

"Well, he's—he's not here." Ed stammered. "Uh, he's—he's out in the woods, uh, searching for Thinman."

Sam huffed slightly. "Okay, because Thinman, or whatever the hell this thing is, has killed two people, and now Harry is in the woods alone."

"Well, actually, it's more like 'wood,' um, 'cause I dropped him off by some trees behind a grocery store," Ed explained. "Guys, come on. He's gonna be fine. Guys?"

~/~\~

Sam and Angela, followed by Ed, rushed out of the motel room.

~/~\~

Harry reached the parking lot clutching his side and was almost ran over by the Impala. Angela, Sam, and Ed jumped out and Harry almost fainted from blood loss. However, Sam and Angela managed to catch him in time.

A/N: Hey, guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I plan on posting a chapter of Snapshots where Gracie says her first words. I kinda wanted Dean to force Sam and Angie to spend some alone time together, so I hope that translated. As always, thank you for the recent reviews! Love you guys, xoxo. :)

~Emily